“They’re good commercial sheep that thrive in all conditions and perform, and we get very few culls from them.

“The Petali sheep are a bit finer and they’re more muscly being polls, so it’s a good mix for us.

“All rams have to be able to walk and eat and I know that with Nerstane and Petali, they're good sound sheep that can get around without any worries.”

When selecting rams, Mr Taylor looks for an animal with good growth, good clean fleece weight, and worm egg count no higher than -20.

Fertility is also a focus, with marking at 98 per cent last year.

“We were getting around 85pc to 90pc a decade ago, and 116pc in 2017,” he said.

“Last year was the first year under 100pc for about five years.”

We sell ewes at 5½ years as replacements for Merino flocks or they go into terminal operations.
There’s usually plenty of competition for them, as soon as you mentioned they're Nerstane blood, that suits a lot of people. - David Taylor, Keston, Wandsworth